West waived; second-round pick Bjelica signs with Spanish team

UPDATE: The Timberwolves on Tuesday waived guard Delonte West, who was acquired in a July 26 trade from Cleveland. In that deal, the Wolves sent point guard Ramon Sessions and center Ryan Hollins to the Cavs for West and point guard Sebastian Telfair. By waiving West, the Wolves paid him only $500,000 of the $4.6 million left on his contract.

Timberwolves second-round pick Nemanja Bjelica on Monday signed a five-year contract with a buyout option to leave for the NBA after two years with Spanish club Caja Laboral, the team for which newly signed Spurs prospect Tiago Splitter played.

That buyout option would place Bjelica, a point guard in a 6-foot-10 power forward's body, with the Wolves in 2012, which also could be the year Ricky Rubio joins them if the 2011-12 NBA season is lost, or mostly lost, to labor strife.

Bjelica will be 24 if he joins the Wolves in two years.

He is set to play for Serbia in the FIBA World Championships that will begin in Turkey on Aug. 28.

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Jerry Zgoda missed the entire Kevin Garnett era, but he's back covering the Timberwolves after working the beat for their first four seasons two decades ago. In between, he covered a bit of everything: Gopher men's and women's basketball and NCAA athletics, golf, outdoor recreation, sports media and a little Vikings and Twins.